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Sewing, sewing, sewing

Posted on Feb. 6, 2007 at 12:13 PM

If you have read about the study of England that my daughters and I are in the midst of, then let me say … the sewing of the Edwardian inspired dresses has begun! My two oldest daughters are making dresses from this pattern from Jennie Chancey's www.sensibility.com.

Our kitchen table is a jumble of machines, fabric and sewing implements. Um, some of that mess is mine though too! I am doing some mending. I also *finally* hemmed a dress I made for my youngest in December. Now it just needs buttons or snaps and she will be actually be able to wear it. Poor patient girl. :)

My second oldest took the picture above. Isn’t their dress material pretty? We had planned to go shopping and pick out some new material but this material was already bought, washed, dried, folded and in the sewing room waiting to be used. We bought oh soooo many yards of this fabric off a $2 a yard shelf at Wal-Mart. When we bought it the girls had hopes that it would be enough to make matching dresses for each of them. We had planned on a simpler pattern that uses less material but I do think there should be enough. Sewing, sewing, sewing ...

~ Rachelle

Our Study of England

Posted on Jan. 25, 2007 at 10:57 AM

A couple of months ago I had a rather shocking realization … that my older girls only have a few more years of schooling left. I decided that it would be really fun to do a study on something we all love … England! We especially enjoy the Regency, Romantic and Victorian eras so much of our study will be during those times.

We will be studying English history, literature, movies, food, Church history, art, poetry, housing and sewing English period clothes. Something I am really looking forward to learning is how to have, or is it take, a proper Tea. We also plan to take rabbit trails into Ireland, Scotland, Wales and France. I have listed all of our current resources over in my left sidebar. I have more items on my need to buy/want to study list too!

I really enjoy learning with my girls so I am reading along with them. Most books will be read at different times or weeks for each us except our literature selections. We are reading those on the same schedule. Our first book is Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. We are supposed to be reading chapters 7-9 this week … I say supposed to because I am a little behind.

I have had such fun researching and putting together this study. I am so glad we homeschool!

My New Course of Study

Posted on Nov. 1, 2006 at 2:21 PM

I love reading and learning but have been rather lax in my own education the last few years soooo … I have decided it is time to get to back to studying. Instead of buying new books for my studies I decided to go through my own library and pick from the many good books I already own. Many I will be reading for, at the least, the second time, some for the first and many of them have been skimmed through countless times.

Over the years I have read so many wonderful ideas that I want to make a part of my home and life but forget all about them in the busyness of life! So … I am setting up a section in one of my notebooks as a sort of “things to implement” journal. A place to keep notes that I can refer to again and again.

Here is the list I came up with after inspecting my library:

Most Important

The Bible – I have a few word studies I have been wanting to do but have not made the time. Now is the time! :)

Womanhood and Homekeeping

Beautiful Girlhood – Mabel Hale

Country Tea Parties – Maggie Stuckey

Creating A SenseSational Home – Terry Willits

Creative Home Organizer – Emilie Barnes

Daughters of Destiny – Noelle Wheeler

For The Children’s Sake – Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Golden Thoughts Of Mother, Home & Health – Gene Fedele

Homemaking – J.R. Miller

Homeschooling With A Meek & Quiet Spirit – Teri Maxwell

If Teacups Could Talk – Emilie Barnes

Let Us Highly Resolve – David & Shirley Quine

Living A Beautiful Life – Alexandra Stoddard

More Hours In My Day – Emilie Barnes

Open Your Eyes – Alexandra Stoddard

The Fruit Of Her Hands – Nancy Wilson

The Hidden Art Of Homemaking – Edith Schaeffer

The Shaping Of A Christian Family – Elisabeth Elliot

The Spirit Of Loveliness – Emilie Barnes

The Total Money Makeover – Dave Ramsey

Verses Of Virtue – Elizabeth Beall Phillips

What Is A Family – Edith Schaeffer

When You Rise Up – R.C. Sproul Jr.

Homeschooling

Educating The WholeHearted Child – Clay & Sally Clarkson

Senior High FORM+U+LA – Barbara Edtl Shelton

The Original Homeschooling Series – Charlotte Mason

Health

5-HTP – Michael Murray

Better Basics For The Home – Annie Berthold-Bond

Home Sweet Home – Debra Lynn Dadd

Nourishing Traditions – Sally Fallon

Pain Free – Pete Egoscue

The Healing Miracles Of Coconut Oil – Bruce Fife

The Schwarzbein Principle – Diana Schwarzbein

What The Bible Says About Healthy Living – Rex Russell

Gardening

Desert Gardening For Beginners – Cromell, Guy & Bradley

Extreme Gardening – Dave Owens

Growing 101 Herbs That Heal – Tammi Hartung

The Garden Guy – Dave Owens

Encouragement & Pleasure

Pocketful of Pinecones – Karen Andreola

Ten Peas In A Pod – Arnold Pent III

This is what happens when you overcook a polymer clay creation ...

Posted on Oct. 20, 2006 at 10:12 AM

Poor Nefertiti. My poor Bethany.

Here is the link to our successful ... not cooked too long ... creations. :)

• King Tutankhamen, Nefertiti, horse and chariot, Egyptian boat, Egyptian inspired necklaces and more …

• Other hightlights from our study of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt: Highlights From Our Studies - Part Two

Posted on Oct. 13, 2006 at 3:01 PM

The Cat of Bubastes, a Tale of Ancient Egypt by G.A. Henty

(6 cd set from www.visionforum) 

We listened to this book as a family. What a fun way to bring Ancient Egyptian life … to life! We really enjoyed this and are on our second way through.

The Exodus Revealed – Search for the Red Sea Crossing

(dvd from www.questar1.com)

We all enjoyed this dvd about the search for the place where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. This dvd is 3 hours long including several extra features. I recommend skipping the main version of the movie and watch the director’s cut. It is located in the extra features area and has sooo much more information. It is a lot longer but worth it!

-Fig Cakes-

We made two different type of fig cakes:

Fig Cakes from Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors

by Marian Broida

These fig cakes were similar to a whole wheat cinnamon roll but not so sweet. The recipe is one that is mixed, shaped and allowed to soak/rise overnight. Very tasty.

(You can even see my new countertops in the background! We had laminate that was in terrible shape. The new ones are LG Hi-Macs (like Corian but costs less) and they are wonderful!)

Abigail’s Fig Cakes from A Biblical Feast – Foods from the Holy Land by Kitty Morse 

This was a very simple recipe containing only three ingredients (figs, nuts and cinnamon). The cakes (more like a cookie) were delicious. I plan to add this recipe to our collection of family favorites. We forgot to take pictures!

Ancient Egypt: Highlights From Our Studies - Part One

Posted on Oct. 13, 2006 at 1:14 PM

Ancient Egyptian polymer clay creations!
 

Egyptian Artifacts

Rebekah

Bethany

D

H

Me

Egyptian inspired necklaces

Me

Ancient Egyptian Inspired Crafting is Exhausting But Fun!

Posted on Oct. 6, 2006 at 4:10 PM

What a couple of busy days! Imagine a mom and four daughter, ages 16, 14, 8 and 5, crowded ... well, not really crowded. The table is a rather big one and the leaf was in too. It is one of those farmhouse type tables from IKEA. It seats 8-10 according the IKEA website (Norden Dining Table) but I know we have had more people than that around it at holiday gatherings ... little bodies takes less room so you can count their spaces as two!!

Where was I? Imagine ... a mom and her four daughters all around a big table that is covered in paint, paint brushes, polymer clay creations, bowls of water, paper towels, green "protect the table" paper and books for reference. Imagine us all being there at that table for houurrss painting our projects. I know we have at least three perfectionists in the bunch. Slow and steady. Paint, of which we must have at least fifty colors, never quite right so we must mix up our own colors. Frustration with brushes that are not quite the right size, thinness or pointiness! I will even admit that some of us even got a little cranky or pouty at times when things were not going just the way they should ... not me though. Well, maybe just a bit, at times. :)

I think I am done. My body just could not take bending over the table any longer. I even strung up three of our Egyptian inspired necklaces today. My littlers ones are done painting their creations and have moved on to water painting on card stock. My second oldest is working on her map and a bust of Queen Nerfertiti. My oldest just finished her map and needs to finish up her King Tut. They both still need to string their necklaces.

Pictures to come ... :)

Our New School Year

Posted on Sep. 22, 2006 at 8:39 AM

We started our new school year with a new curriculum. We are now traveling through history with Tapestry of Grace. Our school year began last week but we started TOG three days ago on Tuesday. So far we are moving a little slow. Maybe part of the four week fog? :)  

Right now our studies have us in Ancient Egypt preparing the way for a study of Moses. We have several fun activities planned for the next couple of weeks. I will hopefully take lots of pictures and remember to come here to blog about our experiences.

Summer Goals Update

Posted on Aug. 17, 2006 at 1:42 PM

Well, it has been a really odd summer. It seems to be just flying by and many of the things I hoped to do have not been possible. I have been struggling with my health and that takes a toll … a big one. So what have we accomplished, so far, from my original summer goals list?

Sewing 

- We bought some lovely patterns. We have traced and cut out a few of them. One of my daughters has cut out her material pieces for an Edwardian Apron but it is yet to be near a sewing machine. We found some beautiful material on the $1 & $2 shelves at Wal-mart and bought lots. My poor sweet husband looked at us like we were crazy picking so many. They really are lovely and would be so much more a yard normally.  I think two or three pieces have been washed, folded and shoved in a closet, except the stuff cut into apron pieces … lol. I am bummed about our lack of sewing. I know there is still a bit of summer left but I will still need to fit a lot of sewing in this Fall/Winter.

Music

- Did not do so well in this area. :(

Scrapbooking and Nature Notebooks 

- Worked on this for a couple days earlier this Summer. I taught my two youngest how to do some things so they will be more independent in making their pages. I wish we had a big table where all our supplies and pages could stay and be available at a moments notice. I think getting it all out and putting it away are the hardest parts.

Crochet

- I taught my 5 and 7 year olds to finger crochet and make a chain with a hook. My five year is working away on a chain. My 7 year old has moved up to single crochet and is in the midst of her second washcloth. She actually taught herself how to do row number two and is doing so well. Her stitches are nice and even.

Cross Stitch

- My older girls have been diligently working on their old fashioned pictures and they are looking so nice. We plan to hang them on our sewing room wall when they are finished.

Blogs

- We have done terribly in this area. Yikes! The girls have not been to their blogs in weeeeeeks. I hope to remedy that soon.

Mini Vocal Coach Update

Posted on Jun. 21, 2006 at 7:13 AM

We listened to part of the first cd and my daughters found it incredibly funny!! They have never been involved in a choir or in voice lessons so had never been exposed to warm up exercises. I was in choir in high school so they sounded rather familiar to me. There was one exercise where you were asked to lay on the floor and make a hooing type sound … that one really cracked them up! I think it was to help you find your diaphragm. This is the beginning cd and since the teachers are not actually here to see how the students are doing with their own eyes, there are a lot of exercises that are designed to help you find your voice and breath correctly. My girls were listening while doing dishes, hmmmm, we will have to change that! They need to be free to follow along without a glass in their hand. :)

Vocal Coach by Chris and Carole Beatty

Posted on Jun. 9, 2006 at 12:56 PM

For Patti. :) Below is a link to the voice lesson series I bought from CBD. We have not listened to even the first one… yet! This series includes 7 cds but they also sell them individually.

Vocal Coach

Summer Plans for Our Year Round Homeschool

Posted on Jun. 8, 2006 at 7:54 AM

After all these many years of home schooling I have decided that this summer there will be some changes! We are going to have a sewing, handcrafts, music and blogging summer with a small side of academics. Arizona weather prevents much outside activity during the Summer months so we must fill our time with other activities. My non-academic summer goals:

Sewing

- I want both my older girls to have ample sewing time and end the summer with a greater list of sewing skills. Most of the items they have sewn so far have been rather simple. Some of the things on the list for them to practice and perfect: button holes, zippers, waist bands with a button or hook, sleeves, collars and ties.

- Teach my younger two basic hand sewing.

Music

- Harp, Violin and Piano - Regular and consist time on instruments. This is such a hard area for us! The girls want to practice and play but other things often get in the way. I would love for them to have practice time at least 5 days every week this Summer.

- Voice lessons – I recently bought a set of voice lesson on cds from CBD and I want to do them this Summer. My older girls already sing all the time while doing dishes and I think that will be a good time to do the lessons. I am excited to do these lessons and see if we can all learn to sing different parts. My sweet husband already sings lovely harmony and a couple of my girls want to learn too.

Scrapbooking and Nature Notebooks

- I would love to spend lots of time catching up on our scrapbooks and nature notebooks. The scrapbooks are typical with photos, writing and decorated pages. The nature notebooks are a fun project that includes photographs and drawings that we have taken and done ourselves in our own home and yard. We are adding information about each animal, bug, bird, reptile, tree, flower, plant or pet too. Official names, common names, habit and things like that.

Crochet

- Finish our current projects! My oldest is working on an afghan, my second a shawl and I have a lovely blanket that I really want to finish. I did not realize (until after I started my blanket) that the basket weave stitch takes 6 times as long to finish and uses at least quadruple the skeins of yarn!  

- Teach my 7 year old, and possibly my 5 year old, to crochet. 

Cross Stitch

- Another one of those finish up the projects we have already started. My two older girls have been working on some lovely old fashioned pictures. They have made good progress and I think we will all enjoy seeing their completed work on the sewing room wall.

- Teach my 7 year old, and possibly my 5 year old, to cross stitch.

Blogs

- Blogs – continue adding to, changing and improving the appearance of our blogs. My older girls are learning some html and are having a fun time decorating their own new homeschoolblogger blogs. They used to share a blog but I think having their own gives them greater freedom to experiment and change things more often.

- Entries on above blogs – write and add new entries to our blogs regularly. Regularly as in at least a couple days a week!! 

My Girls' Blogs:

Rebekah’s Blog    ---    Bethany’s Blog

Actually Write About Homeschooling?

Posted on Jan. 16, 2006 at 6:05 AM

Now that I have a homestead blog to write about the house, the animals, the fruit trees and the garden, I am trying to decide exactly what I want to do with this blog. The address alone should make it quite obvious but so far I am not sure I have actually written about Homeschooling … other than about waiting on books to arrive by UPS.

My views on homeschooling do not seem to be the popular ones whether in a real life situation or on message boards. I am of the “better late than early” camp. Whew, there it is … I have written it for all the world to see! lol I do not believe in this philosophy of teaching because of laziness but because I feel it is in the best interest of children … at least my children.

I have seen so many children burnt out on “school”. Both public schooled and homeschooled children. I find it so sad to hear or see the sigh, dislike or hate of learning in children. When a child has started their formal academic learning at the tender age of 3 or 4 it seems that by about age 13 they are tired. Many seem to make it through grade school okay but at the junior high level, when learning should be exciting and new, they cannot muster up anything but a sad attempt at doing what they have to. No extra spark for learning more about the subjects given to them … just enough energy and interest to get the needed work done so they will not fail.

I have attempted and succeeded in putting a fire in my children, they love to learn. At 14 and almost 16 I love to see their desire to know more about the subjects that come their way. I know that there is no use denying the fact that some children are much more academically inclined than others, it would be silly to deny it. Some children, and adults, soak up books, articles, internet research … they could live at the library - provided it was a good library filled with good books! But … can you start a sentence with but? :) … I believe that any child can learn to love learning.

Reading - the most important tool needed for the one who loves to learn. Teach it when the children are young or wait until they are older? Why not teach reading in the preschool years? Why not give my children the gift of learning at a very young age? I believe that what is a wonderful gift to one who is ready can be a heavy burden to one who is not. Reading a burden? No way! Yes, I believe that giving the ability to read things that one cannot understand is a burden. I did not want my small children to be able to read the billboards in our rather liberal city or the fronts of the icky magazines in the grocery store, the pictures on both are bad enough. I also wanted our children to develop their imaginations, not copy what they had read. I guess my dislike for most children’s books written in the last 40 years or so also helped me to want to protect their minds! I do not want my children reading the accounts of silly stuff that teaches you nothing. Most modern children’s books include way too much foolish behavior on the part of the main characters. I much prefer old reprints full of character and valuable lessons and books that teach about something “real”. Those types of books take a little more maturity to understand.

When both of my older children were still very little a good friend recommended I read some books written by Raymond and Dorothy Moore. If I remember correctly they are the ones who made the phrase “better late than early” well known. I found, and still find, it very interesting that children who start their formal learning later in life catch up very quickly to their peers. Most learning with ease, what it took others many years of struggle to grasp.

I once read that most of what a child learns up to or through (I am not sure which it was) the third grade they would learn at home anyway in an informal setting. Colors, numbers, days of the week, simple math, telling time, all these things and many more have been learned in our home without a schedule, calendar or list to tell me which day to teach it on. My children’s curiosity is way to big to be kept down! lol

I do not deny that very young children can learn a great number of things. They can learn to read well, do higher math, write, play instruments among other achievements. Do I think it is best for them to do so … no, at least not in this house. I believe that character and responsibilities (chores) are best taught first with a health dose of play and the informal teaching of a variety of things.

I feel my older children are finally at an age where I can say “Hey! If you are interested, here is what we did and it worked!!”. For years I felt I was in a constant state of learning and tweaking how I/we did things. Sometimes questioning and wondering if the choices I made years ago were good ones. What would be the fruit from those choices? Would I regret my decisions? Well, here I am years down the road and do I regret those decisions? No. I am sooooo glad I made them! And, since I have a seven year old and a five year old … I am making those same decisions once again. :)

No longer waiting on UPS ...

Posted on Jan. 10, 2006 at 9:05 AM

Our book order did indeed arrive - yay! It is kind of funny how when you order things off the internet you envision them a certain way or a certain thickness. My daughter was shocked at how thick her math book is and how thin the poetry book is! lol

My one book, out of the whole box, is Senior High: A Home-Designed Form+U+La by Barbara Shelton. Any of you read it? What did you think?

Our box of Scattergories is pretty badly squished. I am not sure what the packer was thinking when they put it on the bottom under several large, heavy books? I am telling myself that the discount we got by buying it from cbd justifies the squished box! I am one of those people who likes to keep things as new looking as possible and this box looks sat upon! lol

It has been pointed out to me, by my wonderful oldest loves to learn daughter, that I forgot to order a few things with that last order so now I get to place another one. More waiting on UPS … Yay!!

Waiting on UPS ...

Posted on Jan. 9, 2006 at 9:48 AM

The 2nd First Day of School ...

Posted on Oct. 13, 2005 at 4:11 PM

The 2nd first day of school. Ever have one of those? After you think, consider, consult sweet hubby, plan and pray, you set the date. The date for the first day of the new school year.

You gather supplies and curriculum. You think you are ready. Along comes the day and … nope, you are anything but ready. You decide to go ahead with the day, hoping to turn your lemons into lemonade. Ugh!! You cancel the first day of school and start the process all over again. lol

Oh, the joys of year round schooling. The first day is a special day with traditions and joys all it’s own but school has been happening all along, so it really is okay to have - a 2nd First Day of School.